Analisi di Coketown, da Hard Times di Dickens, Dispense di Inglese

Scarica Analisi di Coketown, da Hard Times di Dickens e più Dispense in PDF di Inglese solo su Docsity! Charles Dickens, Hard Times, Coketown Textual analysis The extract that we have read is taken from Hard Times, a novel written by Charles Dickens in 1854. It focuses on the setting of the novel: Coketown, an industrialized city. As suggested by the title, the name of the city is a reference to coke, which is the “fuel” of machinery and industry. Besides referring to the negative consequences of the Industrial Revolution in terms of environment, it anticipates materialism and concreteness, two typical features of the Victorian mentality. What makes the extract interesting is that it shows problems still present in the XXI century, thus making the reader reflect. The text is opened by a short paragraph, which is part of a narrative sequence. Its function is to introduce the reader to the setting. In particular, the paragraph features different characters: Mr. Gradgrind and Mr. Bounderby. they are two extremely rational men who follow the logic of puritanism and utilitarianism. The city they’re walking in seems to perfectly fit their mentalities, since ( poiché ) it is presented to the reader as “a triumph of fact, (that had) no greater taint of fancy in it than Mrs. Gradgrind herself”. The description of the city begins in the second paragraph. The description features a series of words linked to industrialization and urbanization, such as “town”, “machinery”, “chimney”, “canal”, and last but not least the “piston of the steam engine”, which is the icon of the Industrial Revolution. The narrator also uses a completely opposite semantic field linked to wild and Nature: words such as “savage”, “serpents”, “river”, “elephant” create a strong contrast with the previous ones. The purpose of such lexical choice may be to underline the distance between the Man and Nature, which grows huge as time goes by. Also, the reader may single out (individuare) one similarity between Coketown and a wild forest: both Industralization in Coketown and Nature aren’t under man’s control. The Industrial Revolution seems to have taken ( prendere il controllo ) over the man: